


I Knew You Were Trouble

by JehBeeEh



Series: Ahead by a Century [6]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Artist Steve Rogers, Boyfriends, Date Night, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Tony Stark Does What He Wants, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-18
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-12-21 13:58:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21076034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JehBeeEh/pseuds/JehBeeEh
Summary: Steve and Tony run into each other somewhere they don't quite expect. And Tony decides to have a bit of fun with it.As he turned around, he heard a very familiar voice great his coworkers before he turned to him, his practiced press smile shifting just a bit to the one Steve was used to seeing, and they were shaking hands.“It’s nice to meet you, Shawn,” Tony said, not looking away from Steve for a second.“It’s Steve, and it’s an honour to meet you, Mr. Stark,” Steve replied, noticing a small hitch in Tony’s breathing.





	I Knew You Were Trouble

**Author's Note:**

> It didn't come out exactly like I wanted, but this is the best I could get it to. Hopefully you find it as fun as I did <3

“Pepper, do I really need to do this? I mean, this picture is not that bad, I kinda look smouldery and sexy. That works, no?” Tony held a picture up and tried to match the face he’d made, but he only managed to recreate Blue Steel from Zoolander.

“Tony, this is not for your dating profile, it’s the cover of a major magazine! And we’re trying to make you look fun, sell this as a good news story, try to re-shape your image a bit. The pictures look great, but not for this,” Pepper explained. She did have a point.

“Fine, I can go and redo the photo-shoot,” Tony finally agreed.

“Good, ‘cause it’s scheduled for this afternoon. Andrea will be up with your outfit right after lunch, you need to be there for 2 p.m. sharp. Do not be late!”

“I should have known you’d already scheduled this.”

“It’s been in your schedule for 3 days, actually. You just didn’t notice.”

Tony shook his head and was interrupted by a phone call. “Hey gorgeous!” he answered happily. “Gimme one second, I just need to get rid of my evil genius of an assistant.”

“You know I’m not evil, this is for your own good, Tony. Now, I need you to sign all those contracts I left you this morning, and remember, do not be late!”

“I promise Pep, I won’t be. Thanks for looking out for me, and the company.”

Pepper smiled at him. “Will that be all Mr. Stark?”

“That will be all Ms. Potts,” he swiveled his chair around as Pepper left his office, loving how even after all these years, they still ended their conversations the same way. It had become more of an inside joke than an actual question now, and it made them both smile. He went back to the man waiting on the other end of the line. “Sorry about that, I’m all yours!”

“You really didn’t have to send the flowers, Tony. They’re beautiful, thank you,” he heard the blond say, and he could just picture Steve blushing when he saw the bouquet sitting at his desk.

“You are so very welcome. Had to do something to mark three months since I met you.”

“Oh is that what that is? The giant airplane balloon really didn’t give that away, at all.” Steve replied, sarcasm and amusement dripping from his voice.

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist.”

“It’s really cute, thank you. No one has ever sent me flowers at work before.”

“Well, get used to it. That’s what happens when you’re dating me. I do crazy things. Might get a giant teddy bear next, who knows?”

“Please, no giant stuffed animals.”

Tony chuckled, “I can’t make any promises there. We still on for dinner tonight?”

“Absolutely. Just have a thing here this afternoon, but I can call you as soon as it’s done.”

“OK. Pep just reminded me of a meeting I have at 2, so if I don’t answer, I might still be there. I’ll call you as soon as I’m done if I miss your call though.”

“Perfect! Speaking of, I gotta go, boss is on her way here. Thanks again.”

“Anything for you, Steve. See you later.”

Steve hung up and starred at the bouquet. It was massive, and took up a whole corner of his desk, but it really was beautiful – filled with sunflowers, red and orange roses, lilies and gerbera daisies in shades he’d never seen before. The note card simply said _All Yours, T. -xoxo_. Steve couldn’t help the giant smile that kept creeping up on him every time he looked over to it.

“Did you rob a flower shop this morning, Rogers?” his boss asked with a grin.

“If only that were the explanation,” Steve chuckled. “Seeing someone and he can be a bit… over the top sometimes.”

“That is one way to put it. Just wanted to check in and make sure you’re ok for this afternoon? I hate to ask you to cover for Karen on this one, I know it’s last minute.”

“Oh gosh, it’s not a problem, Julie. It’ll be a good learning experience; I’m looking forward to it!”

“Thanks Steve. I think your artistic eye might come in handy too. Be in the production studio for 1, and we will give everyone the rundown of the afternoon. See you there!”

Steve had an early lunch while he finished a few designs for the January edition of the magazine. It seemed crazy to be starting on it before he knew what the cover would even look like, but he wanted to be familiar with some of the content for the afternoon. When it was just before 1, he took the stairs up two floors, where their production studio was set up. He took a seat and waited for his boss to start the meeting. He sent one last quick text to Tony, telling him he couldn’t wait to see him again, before Julie started the meeting.

“Alright guys, I know this isn’t what we usually do for cover shoots, but we had to improvise a bit. I know I’ve told you all already, but thank you for being flexible and working this into your schedule today. I don’t think we’ll be here too late, but who knows with celebrities, right?” that got a small laugh from the table. “We will be starting with still shots; the photo crew is setting up right now. Steve and Ali, I need you to go over the stills and let the photographer know if you think we can work with the pictures. Don’t be afraid to offer suggestions too. I’d rather have too many options than not enough. We’re going for fun and fresh – January means looking forward, and it sounds like there’s some big, new tech being announced in this one, so keep that in mind.

“We also just got the OK to do one of the autocomplete interviews, so after the photoshoot, Steve, I need you on that, if you don’t mind?”

“Not at all,” Steve replied.

“Perfect. I’ll show you where the boards are. All you need to do is sit next to the camera, and hand over the boards as we go. It’s super simple and should be really fun content for the site.”

They finished the meeting with a few notes to the rest of the crew, and they all set out to get ready. Julie headed to the back of the studio with Steve and showed her how the boards worked. She turned to the blond before they joined the rest of the team. “Look, there’s another reason I asked you to help out on this. You’ll be an asset for sure with your arts background, and I trust you to make this look amazing, but you’re also really good with people, Steve. I was warned by our Cali office that this guy can be a bit of a challenge. I need you to work your magic and get him to loosen up a bit. His team didn’t like the last shoot, that’s why we’re re-doing it here. I know this isn’t your usual job description, but I could really use a win on this one.”

“Oh, thanks Julie. I’ll do my best,” he replied, flattered that she trusted him with this. He wasn’t too sure if he could handle it as well as she thought, but he could be charming and helpful, hopefully that was enough.

Steve sat down with Ali and started sketching out ideas for the cover as they brainstormed quickly with what they knew would be included, leaving some blank spaces for last minute additions. Before they knew it, they had a few mock-ups Steve had drawn, and they were discussing them with the photographer when Julie was speaking behind him.

“And this is the team you’ll be working with today,” Steve heard Julie say. “This is Steve and Ali from our Graphics and Visual team, and this is Roxane, our photographer.” As he turned around, he heard a very familiar voice great his coworkers before he turned to him, his practiced press smile shifting just a bit to the one Steve was used to seeing, and they were shaking hands.

“It’s nice to meet you, Shawn,” Tony said, not looking away from Steve for a second.

“It’s Steve, and it’s an honour to meet you, Mr. Stark,” Steve replied, noticing a small hitch in Tony’s breathing.

“Here is your coffee sir,” Tony turned towards the man handing him a Starbucks cup. “I realized I didn’t ask you want you wanted in it, so I had cream and sugar added, hope that’s ok.”

“Oh, that’s fine, thanks.” Tony was frowning a little, and Steve tried to control his own expression as knew the brunette hated anything in his coffee. “I’m sorry I didn’t catch your name before?”

“I’m Brad, it’s really great to have you here today, sir,” Brad was beaming at Tony, clearly starstruck. He noticed Steve standing behind Tony then. “Oh, hey Steve, how you been?”

Before Steve could answer, Tony turned to him and asked, as innocently as he could, “Do you two know each other?” Steve wanted to roll his eyes at the question, but played along.

“Yeah, we met a few months ago actually. We have such a big team here at Wired, I feel I’m always meeting new folks,” Steve narrowed his eyes a bit at the brunette, trying to convey so much in the small gesture. He looked back to Brad, “Things have been good, thanks,” he replied simply.

“I’m assuming since we haven’t chatted since then, things are still… complicated?” Brad asked Steve, seemingly forgetting – or not caring – that they were very much working.

“Um, still a bit complicated, but really good too, great actually, thanks for asking,” Steve tried to keep his tone neutral so his other co-workers wouldn’t catch on to what Brad might be implying. He was really regretting taking this opportunity today right now. “Mr. Stark?” he turned back to Tony, “if you’d like, I can go get you another coffee if this one isn’t satisfactory? We have a really good coffee machine in the office, and I have to run to my desk quickly to grab something before we start, so it’s not a problem.” He flashed his biggest teeth filled smiled his way, noticing his boss getting impatient, and glaring towards Brad.

“Aw, that’s really nice of you Simon. Thank you,” Tony smiled back and then turned to his boss and said in a low voice, “I like this one, he’s good.”

Steve rolled his eyes as he turned around and headed for the stairs. He quickly got to the office, grabbed one of his spare mugs on his desk and went to the kitchen and made Tony an americano. He grabbed what he was missing from his desk, and he headed back to the studio. When he walked in his boss mouthed a ‘thank you’ to him, and he noticed Brad was nowhere to be found. He walked over to Tony and handed him the mug, noticing he grabbed his Star Wars Han and Leia mug – a gag gift from Nat.

“Bit of a nerd are we, Seth?” Tony said playfully as he examined the mug he was handed.

“It’s Steve. And I prefer geek, actually,” Steve gave him a smirk and went to his co-worker so the photographer could start doing her job.

Once they started the photo session, Steve was able to concentrate on work again. Every few minutes, a new set of pictures would appear on the computer he and Ali were set up at, and while Tony was incredibly photogenic, he had a feeling they were getting more of the same from his previous shoot. When they took a short break, they reviewed the pictures and got access to the set from the last shoot. Tony did seem a bit more relaxed today, but the blond knew he could get him to loosen up a bit more if he tried. Steve got an idea and convinced the photographer to let him try it. He knew the pictures wouldn’t be cover shot material, but they were just a means to an end. He pulled out his phone and started typing, then he went with the photographer and waited for Tony to get back in front of the camera.

“Mr. Stark, I know this is going to sound really odd, but do you have your phone on you?”

Tony looked confused but nodded. “Of course I have it.”

“If you don’t mind, we want to try something a bit different. Can you… pretend you’re taking a selfie?” Steve asked sheepishly, not sure how Tony would react.

“Um, sure?” Tony pulled out his phone and held it like he was taking a selfie, the photographer started snapping away.

“It looks a bit staged… Can you actually turn on your phone and camera? Please?”

Tony did as he was told, and the moment Steve saw the screen come to life, he hit send on the text he’d just written. There was a flicker in Tony’s brow when he saw the message pop up at the top of his screen – Steve knew it would show up the moment the screen was on – but then his real smile came out.

  * _Pretend it’s just you and me, I’m the one taking the pics. Smile like it’s just you and me alone, Mr. Stark ;)_

They took a few more shots with Tony taking selfies, getting goofier with every click, before Steve interrupted again. “Hm, yeah, I don’t think my idea is working, I’m sorry. Thanks for indulging my crazy idea though, Mr. Stark.”

Tony put his phone away, and smiled while looking at Steve, “Wasn’t a bad idea. Was actually kinda fun.”

“Rogers, stay right where you are please,” Roxane whispered to Steve, as he heard her taking more pictures. Turned out just having Steve by the camera was enough for Tony, and after 20 more minutes, they had more than enough material to choose from. Steve went back to Ali to go over the stills she’d flagged, even including one or two of the selfie ones, so they could go over them together.

“I don’t know what the heck that was about, but the pictures are night and day, Steve. That was brilliant!” Ali looked over to him, and he just shrugged.

He glanced over to see Tony talking with Julie, his hands moving around as he explained something Steve couldn’t hear from where he stood but he was sure it was about some of the new tech he was working on. Steve always loved seeing Tony like this, all happy and passionate and excited. He bit his lip to try and keep himself from grinning like an idiot, but his co-worker clearly still noticed.

“He’s pretty cute, huh?”

“More like fucking gorgeous,” he let out before realizing what he’d said. Ali was laughing hysterically at this, which made Julie and Tony look over. Steve started feeling his cheeks burn as his co-worker couldn’t control her laughter.

She leaned closer to him, “Careful, we don’t want your new boyfriend to get jealous of Tony Stark.”

“Yeah, we wouldn’t want that.”

“What’s so funny over here?” Julie and Tony had made their way to the pair and were now looking over their shoulder.

“Sorry boss, didn’t mean to distract you. We were just going through the pictures, they’re awesome!” Ali said, while showing them a few of their favourites.

“I think Pepper will be much happier with these. Thanks so much, I’m sorry for being so much trouble,” Tony smiled apologetically at Julie.

“It was no trouble at all, I’m happy you like these. Just one thing left for today and we’ll have you on your way. Steve, shall we?” Julie led the two men towards the second backdrop they had set up, with the video camera.

“That’s the auto-fill interview right? How does this work? I’m still surprised my assistant agreed to this. She gets nervous when she doesn’t know what reporters will ask me,” Tony replied cautiously as he went to sit down on the stool in front of the camera, Steve taking his seat next to it.

“It’s pretty simple,” Steve replied. “I’ll hand you one of these cards, you hold it in front of you, facing the camera, you take off the white strips one at a time and you answer the questions. Look at the camera, not at me. It’ll be rolling the whole time; we’ll edit it down later. We can do as many or as few cards as you’d like, and before you ask, no I don’t know what the questions are on any of these. I’m just here to hand them to you and make sure the camera’s working. No weird conspiracies going on, these are literally just what people have actually searched for involving your name.”

“OK, should be easy enough, lets go.” Tony said clapping his hands nervously. Julie went back to Ali to go over the pictures, and see how they could work with the mockups, so they were alone.

“Tony, it’ll be fine,” Steve told him quietly, getting a smirk from the brunette. He turned the camera on. “Alright Mr. Stark, we’re rolling. Can you just do a quick intro, if you mess up, just start over, don’t worry about it, and I’ll hand you your first card after.”

Tony looked at the camera, took a deep breath and started talking. “Hi, You know who I am, do I really need to introduce myself? And this is my Wired Autocomplete Interview.” He waited a second and turned to Steve who was handing him his first card and gave him a quick wink. Steve rolled his eyes at him but smiled.

“Alright, lets get this thing started. Not gonna lie, a bit scared to see what people search about me.” He settled the foam core card on his lap and pulled the first strip off. “_Is Tony Stark Italian_ – Well, that’s easy enough, my mom was Italian, so the answer is _Sì, sono mezzo italiano_ – I’m half Italian. Next… _Is Tony Stark dead. _What?! Why do people search these things? Wow. OK, well, I think that answers itself. Hi, sitting right here.” He gave the camera a headshake and truly confused expression, while Steve tried to supress a laugh. He always found it funny that people searched for this and it came up in most of their interviews. “OK, lets hope for something a little less morbid next… Is Tony Stark single. Oh, I was expecting that one. The answer to that is no, Tony Stark is currently not single, and that’s all I’m going to say about that for now.” He smiled, almost to himself, trying not to look at the blond next to the camera. “_Is Tony Stark an only child_. Biologically, yes, there is just me; but I consider my best friend Rhodey my brother. Found family is sometimes much better than the real deal. Ok, last one for this board, make it good people of the Interwebs… _Is Tony Stark really a genius_. I hate to brag, but yes. Yes, I am. I didn’t get into MIT at 15 on my good looks alone.”

Steve grabbed another card at random and shook it playfully. “Want to try another one?”

“Yeah, these are kinda fun! Throw it at me, blondie.” He got ready to catch and completely missed it. He threw back his head laughing. “Well, we now know the answer to ‘Is Tony Stark good at sports’. That is a resounding hell no!” he got the board and straightened up. “Ok, back to serious business. Here we go, _Does Tony Stark wear boxers or briefs_.” He looked up at the camera, the confused frown back again. “You know, I sometimes wonder how we ever survived without the Internet. Today is not one of those days. Um… I don't even want to answer this, come on people, minds out of gutters.

“Next up, _Does Tony Stark really have a playboy reputation_. We are going there. Um, I did. I used to be that guy, I had quite the reputation, yeah. All the parties and… let’s just say, a lot of it was exaggerated but it was based on the truth, can’t deny that. But I have grown up just a bit, and that is no longer who I am, no.

“Back to the board, _Does Tony Stark have kids_. Ha! I think that relates to the previous question... To my knowledge, the answer is no, but it would be nice to have a family someday. I mean, not that the world needs more me – that is probably not a good idea – but I would love to get married and hopefully if we had kids, they’d take after my partner more than me.” Steve’s heart melted as Tony gave his answer, the topic having not come up yet. And oh could he see himself having kids with this man.

“Ok, last one cause I can feel my phone vibrating in my pocket, which means my assistant misses me or I’m forgetting a meeting somewhere. Sorry Pep!” he gave an apologetic face to the camera as he ripped the last question. “_How many cars does Tony Stark own_. Oh gosh, the answer is a lot. I love cars, and do collect them, right now they are my babies. I can say, my fave to drive right now is the R8 Spyder. She is so sexy, and fun to drive. Best car I have right now. Now, sorry to cut this short…” he pulled out his phone. “Yup it is my assistant, sorry gotta take this.” He apologized to Steve as he answered. Steve got up and turned the camera off and waited for Tony to be done, knowing he'd wave him off if he needed privacy. Their conversation was short though, and Tony hung up quickly, turning to Steve with a grin. “Pepper loves the pictures, said to thank you for getting the stick out of my butt.”

“Please tell Ms. Potts she is most welcome, Mr. Stark,” Steve teased him, getting closer.

“You have no idea how sexy it sounds when you say that,” Tony whispered, making sure Steve's coworkers didn’t overhear him.

“Yeah, I kinda noticed it was having an effect on ya. I’ll need to remember that.”

“Think you’ll be done soon? I can wait for you before I leave. Wait a few blocks away?”

“Not sure actually but shouldn't be too much longer. I’ll text you?”

“Sounds good. Let’s go tell your boss what a horrible job you did.”

“Yeah, I’m sure she’ll believe you.”

“Come on, let’s get out of here,” Tony went to grab Steve's hand but remembered at the last second where they were and instead just turned to walk towards Julie.

“Your assistant was quite impressed with the new sets of pictures; I think we've settled on a few we can use. Thanks for being patient Mr. Stark,” Julie shook his hand as she spoke.

“It was my pleasure. I had a great time. Sorry I couldn't do the interview a bit longer, it was actually lots of fun!”

Tony said his goodbyes to the rest of the team and Julie escorted him out.

Steve grabbed his things and he and Ali headed back to the office.

“Looked like you two were having a fun time over there?” Ali asked, looking at Steve from the side.

“It was really fun, yeah, he’s a funny guy. He was just saying thanks for getting some better shots, that was all.”

“Sure Steve. I’ll see you tomorrow, we can go over everything we got today?”

“Sounds good, see you!”

It took 15 minutes for Steve to get ready and head out. He sent Tony a message asking where to meet him and headed towards the location. He got in the town car, after making sure none of his coworkers were around, and was quickly treated by Tony's lips smashing into his own.

Tony was panting when he finally released their lips. “I’ve been wanting to do that all afternoon. You have no idea.” He got back in his seat and put on his seatbelt. He asked Happy to bring them to the restaurant they had reservations at. “Hope you don't mind, moved the time a bit since we were both free, and I’m starving. Who knew being a pretty face would work up such an appetite?”

“It is totally fine, I can always eat,” Steve reached for Tony's hand. “I wish you would have told me you were coming to the office today. Was fun to see you, but a bit of notice would have been nice.”

“I didn’t think I'd get to see you. Usually they just have a photographer and one or two other people. You guys pulled out all the stops!”

“I think Pepper might have scared Julie about the re-shoot. She wanted everything to be perfect.”

“Well, it was awesome. Your coworkers seem great. Except maybe for Brad…”

“Oh God, I can't believe you met him!”

“I’m real happy you didn’t go out with him. He was kind of a douche when he met me downstairs with your boss. I only asked for the coffee to get him away from us, to be honest. And I can’t believe he just asked you about the date thing in front of your boss. I’m sorry I messed around with you about that.”

“Oh, it’s ok. I didn’t expect him to bring it up either. And, if you’d kept pulling crap like that, I was just going to use one of your weaknesses against you.”

“You went to get the glasses didn’t you?”

“Yup! I’m surprised I didn’t have to use them.”

“I would not have lasted long… Would’a had to find a broom closet somewhere.”

They pulled up to the restaurant, the same Italian place Tony had taken Steve on their first date. They walked in and got to their table and found a bottle of wine already waiting for them.

“Hope you don’t mind, had them get us a couple things ready in advance,” Tony said embarrassedly, biting his lip, as they sat down.

“This is perfect, Tony. Thank you,” Steve pulled the brunette in for a slow kiss, just like he had wanted to do that first night. “And thanks again for the amazing bouquet. You spoil me way too much.”

“And see, I feel I don’t spoil enough. Funny how that works.” Tony returned the kiss, and didn’t let go of the blond until food started appearing in front of them.

“You never worry that the staff here are going to go to the press about you being here?”

“No. The other patrons tend to be on the older side, they really don’t care who I am. And the owners have spoken to the staff, they know better. And I tip really well.”

They ate quietly for a bit, until Steve finally asked Tony what had been on his mind for the last hour. “So, um, those answers you gave during the interview today…”

“I was wondering if you were going to ask me about those,” Tony replied quietly. “I hope it didn’t freak you out?”

“No, did not freak me out. Not one bit. I wasn’t sure how you’d answer the dating one.”

“I was going to bring that up tonight anyways, but yeah, I don’t exactly plan on lying about it. I know this isn’t getting posted for a little while yet, so we should still be able to hide this for a little while more, but I don’t want to keep you a secret either Steve. I meant everything I said today. I’ve grown up a bit, I’ve wisened up, and I’m not getting any younger. I do want to settle down some day, have a family, do all that domestic stuff. Not gonna lie, I could absolutely see myself doing that with you. But for now, if you’re ok with it, I’d love to be able to call you my boyfriend, and figure out how we announce this publicly, cause sadly, it will need to be a coordinated effort, especially with your work.”

“Tony, sweetheart, stop talking. That sounds perfect. All of it. I would love nothing more than to officially be your boyfriend.”

“I know boyfriend sounds childish, but I haven’t grown up that much, I will flaunt that you are my hot young boyfriend for as long as I can.”

“I’m not that much younger than you.”

“You were just out of diapers by the time I started MIT!”

“Ok, when you think of it like that, maybe. Anyways, I did have something for you too.” Steve reached in his jacket pocket and pulled out a key. “I know this might seem weird, cause lets be honest you’d never want to move in with me, when you have a giant penthouse, but I still wanted you to have this. Obviously, it’s a key to my place. If you ever want to come over, whether I’m there or not, you can. I want it to feel like home for you too. Just smaller and less fancy than yours, but home.”

Tony looked down at the key, and then back up to Steve. He reached out and brushed a thumb on his cheek as he pulled him in for a kiss. “Anywhere you are feels like home, Steve. Have you noticed I don’t like spending too much time at the tower? I mean, other than the lab and my cars, the penthouse is a place to stay, yeah, and it is home, but your place has always felt more like home than the tower has. It reminds me of my place in Malibu, I’d consider that one more like home than the tower penthouse. I love spending time at your place. I love your paintings, and your pictures, and all your weird kitchen gadgets. All it’s missing to be perfect is JARVIS instead of that Nest thing you have, and I’d move in there in a heartbeat. This is the best present I could have asked for, Steve. Thank you.”

“What do you say we grab dessert to go, and head back home? I know exactly where all my friends are, and there will be no interruptions, I promise.” Steve’s low voice sent shivers up Tony’s spine, and the brunette could only nod at the suggestion.

They got their usual dessert selection wrapped up while Tony took care of the check. Happy was waiting for them outside, and traffic was thankfully sparse as they headed back towards Brooklyn. And exactly as promised, they weren’t interrupted as they got to explore every inch of each other’s bodies.


End file.
